1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light distribution characteristic measurement apparatus and a light distribution characteristic measurement method for measuring the light distribution characteristic of a light source.
2. Description of the Background Art
The light distribution characteristic is known as one of the characteristics of light emitted from a light source. The light distribution characteristic means a spatial distribution of the luminous intensity (or luminance) of a light source. As such a light distribution characteristic, both the absolute-value-based light distribution and the relative-value-based light distribution are used. The absolute-value-based light distribution is a measurement of the spatial distribution of the absolute value of the luminous intensity and is used in such a case where the total luminous flux generated by a light source is to be determined. In contrast, the relative-value-based light distribution is a measurement of the spatial distribution of the relative value of the luminous intensity, and is used in such a case where the light distribution pattern is to be determined. Generally, it is not easy to measure the light distribution characteristic of light sources such as a light source having a complicated light distribution pattern and a light source whose characteristics are not known.
Regarding such a measurement of the light distribution, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2008-70290 for example discloses a space-saving apparatus having a mechanism that rotates by 360° a light emission source sample to be measured, and enabling a three-dimensional light distribution characteristic to be measured by moving an optical receiver in one direction by only ±90° with respect to the Z axis (see [ABSTRACT] for example).